Bernalillo County, NM Environmental Rules: Flood Zones (2026)

Bernalillo County Code § 38-72 requires a development permit before any construction, filling, grading, mining, paving, excavation, drilling or storage of equipment or materials begins within an area of special flood hazard shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map, using the FEMA Flood Insurance Study for Bernalillo County dated November 4, 2016. Applications go to the county building section and must include scaled plans showing the elevation, in relation to mean sea level, of the lowest floor of every structure, the elevation to which any structure has been floodproofed, an engineer's certification for nonresidential floodproofing under § 38-102(2)c, and a description of any watercourse alteration.

00 for smaller buildings, additions or non-building structures. The county floodplain administrator, a position created under § 38-71 pursuant to NMSA 1978 § 3-18-7, reviews every application, checks that other required federal, state or local approvals are in hand, and determines whether the project would raise flood levels on neighboring land; if it would, mitigation becomes a permit condition. An applicant who is denied a permit, or who owns a half-acre lot or smaller surrounded by existing development below base flood level, can seek a variance or appeal to the floodplain administrator under § 38-73, which weighs flood danger, alternative sites and the cost of emergency services during a flood. A structure built without the documentation § 38-72 requires is presumed to be in violation until the paperwork is produced.